The Sharks took a lot of pride in the fact they weren't allowing many shots early in the season -- an average of 25 for each of their first 24 games.

Now, since the trade for Joe Thornton and the subsequent departure of Brad Stuart on the blueline, San Jose has allowed an average of 30.4 shots for the last eight games, an increase of more than 20 percent from before.

Does it mean the Sharks' defense is suddenly more porous? San Jose had a losing record when its goalies were facing less rubber and the team is 7-1 since allowing more shots.

So chalk it up to a statistical anomaly?

"I think it's a misleading stat because it's the quality of the shots and chances that really matter," defenseman Scott Hannan said. "And I think those have gone way down since we've turned around and started winning."

"The scoring chances aren't up, just the shots are up," said coach Ron Wilson, adding that because the Sharks have held early multiple-goal leads, they've been less aggressive with shots later in games.

The Sharks knew the consequence of spicing up a goal-depleted attack by acquiring Thornton, who as one of the top players in the game and named to the Canadian Olympic team Wednesday, meant having to reconfigure a defense that was used to Stuart's 20-odd minutes per game.

"It's sparked a lot of other guys to play better," Davison said. "Stuey was a big part of the defense and we're going to miss him, but it gave some other guys a chance to step up and play, and overall, it's gone pretty good."

Hannan, the team leader in average ice time (24:29) has benefited, certainly. A league-worst minus-19 the night of the trade, he has been a plus-5 in the eight games since then.

Kyle McLaren earns the next- most ice time (23:34), but he has been out of the lineup for three games after having a knee scoped, and figures to be missing again tonight against Phoenix after not skating during practice Wednesday.

Preissing, Davison, Ehrhoff, Murray and Gorges -- with a combined 273 games of NHL experience, barely half of McLaren's 543 career games -- joined Hannan during Tuesday's 4-2 victory over Anaheim and figure to face the Coyotes tonight.

"If guys don't step up and play well, that would make it tough on our defense," Hannan said. "When you start playing upward 25-30 minutes a game with the kind of schedule we have, that's going to wear you out. It's a key for these guys to come up and play big minutes."

Preissing, in his second year out of Colorado College, has provided a boost at both ends, leading in blueline scoring with five goals and 17 points while compiling a team-best plus-14 in just less than 20 minutes (19:36).

Davison, solid on the penalty kill, physical and tough, logs 16:42 per game and Murray, with only eight games of experience, is up to 16:11. Gorges, who, like Murray, broke up an Anaheim 2-on-1 when the Mighty Ducks trailed by only a goal Tuesday, figures to get more chances as well.

"He didn't look at all like it was his second game in the NHL," Wilson said.

Briefly: Sharks forward Marcel Goc, Ehrhoff and goaltending prospect Thomas Greiss, drafted in the third round of 1994, were named to the German Olympic Team on Wednesday. Captain Patrick Marleau and Hannan, both on Canada's long list, were not named to Team Canada's roster.